Author: gallopingcow

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The Parent Trap

Today was our first day of our three week “summer hours” nonsense, and it turned out worse than it had any right to be. I actually went to bed super early, so I didn’t have much trouble getting out of bed. It was cool outside for the drive in, but I knew it was going to heat up to an uncomfortable high on the bike. I kind of assumed I would be left alone again, but instead I was sent with a group to the high school. We had to possibly relocate some network lines to move the student computers in the library, and then remove the old journalism computers from the lab. Beyond that, we had to start inventory at that building, and there’s no mistaking how I felt about that.

Kyle and I rode with Brody, and I convinced them to work on inventory while I did all the network and computer pulling by myself. We ran into Al on his last day there, and I chatted with him for a minute before we started. From that point, the morning actually went really well by myself. Lunch time was an about-face.

Brody and Kyle were slow coming up to the office, and Kyle didn’t want La Chiquita, so I took the opportunity to skip as well while Brody caught up with the others. Instead, I ate an apple and chatted with Tammy at the shop until people started showing back up. Gary was the only one to ever come back, and it took me a while to find anyone else. I had to go back to the high school anyway, so I could unload the old computers from the cart I borrowed.

I finally found Brody, Jacob, and Kyle trying to pull a bunch of network lines to the old journalism room, and I caught them just as they discovered that three of their eight boxes of cable were not long enough for the run. The excuse was that they checked the length of available cable in the boxes, but not the actual length of the physical run. Frustration mounted as we finished that run, and then tried to wrangle up more boxes of cable to make another run. In the end, we decided to wait for a new delivery of cable, and I sent everyone to work on inventory for the rest of the day.

I went back to the shop and just announced very loudly outside the offices of the holy trinity that I needed a safe space where the republicans couldn’t get to me. Thomas jokingly called out to me, and I took his leave to cry exasperatedly at him about my experience with the crew. Zach came around the corner and joined in on the conversation, and we set forth a plan to grow from the experience. I spent the rest of the day hooking up a new-to-me desktop in place of my frustrating laptop.

Summer said Autumn was cooking dinner, so I went home to change before heading up. I was already emotional from the day, on top of being ignored as a parental figure yesterday, so I fell apart once I got there. I took Summer aside to talk to her, and found no comfort. I finally came out to the dinner table and started the uncomfortable conversation about whether I improved any of their lives. I knew what Autumn’s answer would be, but as usual she fell silent when confronted. Eaddie wasn’t any comfort either, but at least backed me up when I called them out for bad vibes. It took a couple of hours of talking, but we finally dug deep enough to find the root of some of the issues, and hopefully the growing and learning will continue with some action.

Obvious Protip: Don’t vent to the children.

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Fauxther’s Day

I woke up early in the bright bedroom this morning, and didn’t allow myself to go back to sleep. Instead, I sat on the couch with the cat for a while, until I figured it would be a good time to wake Summer up. She got ready for her hike, and I made a hamburger. I was really wishy washy on whether I wanted to go to Petit Jean as well. Noah showed up, and I decided I didn’t really want to go if I wasn’t going to add anything to their day.

They went to get the girls from Hannah’s house while I went home, but then I decided I would ride the Shadow up the mountain with them, rather than sulk in the house all alone all day. I met them all at Casey’s to fill up, and we made our way to the mountain. Our first stop was the bear caves, and they climbed around on the rock formations while I puttered around on the ground.

Next up was the Cedar Falls overlook for some pictures. Autumn said she wanted to hike all the way down to the falls, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to, and Summer decided she didn’t want to either. Our last stop was the overlook and grave site. They sat on the bluff while I stayed out of the sun. Then the kids wandered around one of the old buildings there before we headed home.

I went straight to my house to get beach towels, and then met them at my parents’ house to swim. Dad had just started the grill when we got there, and threw on some ribs while we swam. Then I started the chicken wings, along with a kielbasa, and some hot dogs for Autumn. We fought the flies to eat outside, but Mom and Julie ate inside.

After a long day, the girls took Noah back to the house and I headed home. Tomorrow starts our three weeks of a modified work schedule that nobody seems to be able to justify. I guess some idiot in a tower just thought it would be a good idea.

…to me?

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Sitting

I was surprised that I woke up at 7:30 this morning after going to sleep around three. I walked around a bit, but then went back to bed for a couple more hours before getting up and taking a shower. When I finished, I got Eaddie up and we ended up watching the last episode of Stranger Things from the beginning. Summer left work early, so we headed up to their house after our episode was done, and cleaned up some leftovers for lunch or an early dinner.

Hannah wanted someone to dog and housesit for a night, so Summer took both girls across town to do that. When she got back, she spent the entire night in front of one of the TVs. I burned an old frozen peach pie in the microwave, and then made another mostly edible one in the toaster oven. Then we wound down for an early bedtime.

Running up that hill with no problems.

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Sangwiches

It was too hot to go to work without air conditioning today, so I drove in. Most of the guys were sent to do inventory at another building, so I stuck around to image more computers for the new high school lab. It wasn’t too long before the eSCO guys showed up to haul off some garbage, so Thomas, Zach, and I went outside to help load them up. I got super hot and had to pace myself, so by the end of it I was dripping wet with sweat.

The crew showed back up around lunch time, and five of us went to Slim Chickens. I tried their buffalo chicken sandwich, which was good, if not small. Then I did everyone’s receipt surveys to get them all a bunch of free brownies. I got lucky spinning the wheel, and got a strawberry cheesecake jar dessert.

Somehow we convinced Thomas to call it an early day, so shortly after we got back from lunch, we started drawing numbers. After about half of the crew was gone, it was down to Greg, Jacob, and me. Our numbers were all really close together, and mine was in the middle, which meant both of them had way better odds of going home. Thomas kept asking if we wanted to change our numbers, but I refused. When it came time to draw, the random number generator rolled my exact number, so I beat the other two out.

I headed home and wanted to swim, but Eaddie didn’t want to get out of the house. I fought sleep for a little while, and eventually made it up to Summer’s after picking up some Wendy’s for Eaddie. I made a leftover burger while I was up there, and then Eaddie and I came back to my house for a late night of Stranger Things.

We watched two episodes before she started fussing about being hungry again, so we left the house to find something quick to eat. Everything was closed at 10, so we ended up at the McDonald’s drive-through with a bunch of teenage hooligans. It took way too long, but we got a burger for Eaddie and headed back home to try and finish the season.

We got a little over halfway through the last episode before Eaddie and I were both ready to fall asleep, so I tucked her in and we both crashed after a long day.

Too Frosty.

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Language!

I went in on the Grom today, and I could tell it was going to be a hot day by how bright it was. We had a little meeting, and then Thomas asked for help cleaning up the shop talk. I was left alone to manufacture flash drives all day, but I kept running into errors on my laptop. Fortunately I had my new Windows 11 desktop ready to pump some out.

Zach wanted to split lunch into two groups today just in case our FedEx truck showed up. I went with him, Greg, and Thomas to Brangus at noon, and the truck showed up right after I got back. I got to take the forklift out again, which is always fun. Then the guys took everything downstairs to try and image.

We haven’t purchased Bytespeed computers since before I started, so I figured this was going to be a struggle. To my surprise, they actually imaged with the drivers we already had loaded, so it wasn’t too much extra work. The only trick was to use the manufacture date in place of the serial number when setting the hostnames.

At the end of the day, I chatted with Thomas for a bit about the school board, and he invited me to come hang out in the sound booth with him any time. I think that will be a good way to get my feet wet without sitting awkwardly in the crowd.

I sat down for a bit when I got home before calling Eaddie to see if she wanted to swim. I thought Summer and Autumn were in Conway, so I wanted to give her a chance to get out of the house. Evidently Summer had just left to take Autumn to karate and then hit the gym, but to my surprise, Eaddie actually wanted to swim. We headed to my parents’ house and jumped straight into the pool. The water felt great, and we swam around and chatted for quite a while.

When we got out, Mom offered some leftovers and Eaddie decided on some shrimp and sweet potato fritters. I cleaned up some old beef and rice, and then we headed back home. Eaddie wanted a strawberry Frosty, but Wendy’s said they were out. We ended up going back to an ice cream truck by the railroad tracks. I got a strawberry pineapple Dole Whip, and paid an arm and a leg for it.

Back at the house, Autumn was sat in front of the TV while Summer cleaned up for bed. The girls watched YouTube while I caught up with Summer, and then everyone was off to bed.

IT’S PIKACHU!!!

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7 to 11

It wasn’t miserably hot today, so I took the Shadow to work. I got to work on my own projects again, which mainly consisted of testing imaging in the morning, along with applying OS updates. It made for a really quiet day by myself.

Gary and Greg came back and said they were going to Johnny’s for lunch, so I opted out. Rather than spend money on something I dislike, I cleaned some junk that people had forgotten in the fridge, and chewed on ice all afternoon. I don’t know what’s been driving that craving, but I just can’t seem to get enough.

The afternoon was more of the same, and I eventually turned into a flash drive manufacturer. Aside from that, Thomas turned on a scrap netbook that I brought back to the shop that had Windows 7 on it, and I pulled out an old desktop that would run Windows 11 since my laptop frustrated me the entire day.

After work, I went home to change before going to dinner at my parents’ house. I thought the girls were coming over to eat and swim as well, but they didn’t. I rode the bike over, ate, sat around for a little while, and then rode up to see the girls for a little bit before returning home for the evening.

I remember microwave popcorn being better than that.

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Dentology

I knew I had to take the girls to the orthodontist this afternoon, but I nearly spaced and took the bike to work this morning. I caught myself on the way out and took the Murano instead, but it wouldn’t have been a bad day for a ride. We had a short meeting, and then I was mostly left alone to do my own thing. Gary had me update SCCM, which was a relatively easy, but long process that took me all morning to complete.

The guys went to Taco John’s and invited me along, but I was on the fence anyway, and then traffic didn’t allow me into the right lane to make the turn, so I headed on up to Summer’s instead. The girls were up but sedentary. I warmed up some leftover Mexican chicken casserole for lunch, and then we left for Dr. K’s.

When we got there, the doors were locked for lunch time, so we waited under the shade of a nearby bushy tree. It seemed a little silly to see so many people waiting outside the door in the heat, but I guess they’ve gotta eat too. Autumn filled out some paperwork while Eaddie went back. Then she wanted me to go back with her for the consult. Autumn really wants braces, but Invisalign is about 400 bucks cheaper. Evidently they don’t have insurance to cover anything, so I don’t know why Summer’s trying so hard to spend money on the kid that’s giving us so much trouble.

After the girls finished, we went to my house so I could change out of my work jeans into some shorts, then headed back up to their house until Eaddie’s flute lesson. They watched Stranger Things for a little while, and I baked the Surfer Boy branded pizza we got for them. Then Autumn took a nap while Eaddie painted. When it was time to leave again, Autumn pitched an absolute fit about being woken up, and was super bitchy for about two hours.

We dropped Eaddie off for her lesson and then went to my parents’ house for half an hour. Eaddie finished up after about 45 minutes, and I took them straight to karate. They had both started to get moody, so I decided to go in to watch them for the hour. They begrudgingly worked out together, and flailed their limbs around loosely the entire time. On the way home, Autumn wanted to get some sour cream for barbecue nachos, but then went straight to the Takis and Dr. Pepper. I didn’t have the energy to fight her there, so I got the corn chips we really needed, and we continued home.

It was a little late, but I wanted to eat a little bit for dinner. Then I had to threaten to take her snacks before Autumn made herself the tiniest plate of smoked pork and shredded cheese I had ever seen. She didn’t even open the sour cream she begged for. After she ate, I made her clean the kitchen while Eaddie cleaned her room. Then I killed time until Summer got home super late. She went straight to bed, and I played Puzzle Quest on my phone all night.

…but I’m a creep…

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and Friends

I hardly slept last night. It was hot and humid all day. There were a couple projects going on, but Gary just had me take care of some work orders that had come to him over his long weekend. It was just more time rubbing shoulders with people I don’t normally see, which was fine by me. There wasn’t actually anything difficult, so though it was an active day, it was still really relaxed. I did learn that two of our Mac users were basically only using Apple computers because that’s what they were given, but that they prefer Windows. It is absolutely Jeff’s doing, and I can’t stand it when people make ignorant and irresponsible decisions like that.

I didn’t take a lunch, and had half a Soylent instead. It was just as well, because near the end of the hour, we had a truck with four pallets of Chromebooks arrive. Luckily I had easy access to the forklift, and though Chris said it wasn’t running well, I didn’t have any trouble with it. Once the guys got back from lunch, Zach pulled the truck around and I loaded them up for delivery to the middle school. That meant I had to babysit the second pair of pallets until they came back for them, but Thomas came back from lunch and kept me company.

The afternoon was more of the same until it was time to go. I was hungry by then, so I went home to change, dropped a package off at Walgreens and picked up a Nitro Pepsi, and headed up to Summer’s. The nitrogenated vanilla Pepsi was smooth and creamy, but felt more flat than anything else. I don’t think I’d recommend it. Since it didn’t have any spike to it, I had the can down by the time I made it up the hill.

Noah was there, and watching Stranger Things with Eaddie. I offered to warm up some dinner for them, but they didn’t want any. I made myself a barbecue sandwich and ate, then sat down to watch TV with them. Eaddie asked me at least half a dozen times if I was staying, and then specifically said she didn’t want me to, so I went home, cleaned some algae out of my nano aquarium, watched the episode they started without me, and then went to bed after a Duo call with Summer.

and Godzooooky.

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Just for Kicks

I got up and made some fancy bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits from leftovers this morning. Then I went home to clean up and pack a bunch of camp chairs for Summer’s company picnic in Little Rock. We left early so we could spend a little extra time there. I got us last-minute tickets to see Jurassic World: Dominion at the IMAX, but the kids weren’t super excited for it. They argued that they hadn’t seen any of the others, but we actually saw the last one at an IMAX in Illinois.

We stopped in Conway first for some lunch because they were hungry. We tried going to Raising Cain’s, but that place was absolutely packed without an open seat in the house. From there, we drove across the street to Chipotle. Eaddie seemed most confused by their ordering process for some reason, but we made it through. Summer and I just split a burrito.

The last stretch of the drive was uneventful, and we made it to the theater and through the concessions line just in time to catch the trailers. They were super busy, and I didn’t realize it was opening weekend. I was pretty annoyed by all the chatter and noise around us, but the speakers were cranked up so high that you couldn’t hear much else. I was a bit disappointed in the movie myself, but I think all of them after the first one were kind of campy. The girls enjoyed it though, and it clearly wasn’t an issue that they hadn’t seen all of the prior films.

After the movie, we had just enough time to make it across to North Little Rock for the Splash company picnic at the Lakewood Properties park. It was nice and windy there, and the tree cover made the heat and humidity bearable. We found a box turtle, and Autumn immediately pulled it out of its hiding spot and carried it around the park while Summer and Eaddie played cornhole. I brought a biplane kite and put it together, but nobody else was really interested in that.

The girls got food, but I was still stuffed from lunch. I didn’t even eat any popcorn during the movie. Afterward, Eaddie said she wanted to fly the kite, but then didn’t follow me out into the opening. She and Summer took off in the opposite direction, leaving me standing there alone on the hill. My aggravations grew when I found them alone at some swings, way away from everyone else. I was happy to make an appearance with Summer, but it was hot and they kept leaving me alone. I felt like we were only there because she had to make an appearance as a part of the management team, but then she wasn’t even mingling.

Fortunately, they started a big kickball game going, which drew everyone together. I was surprised that Eaddie didn’t play, but Autumn did. I was proud of her for jumping in though. I sat at the top of the bleachers because I was sweating enough just sitting there. After a while, Eaddie came up and wanted to get a snowcone, so we walked back up the hill for that. I was sat weird on the bleachers, and also super dehydrated from the heat, so my legs cramped up immediately.

I didn’t even make it back down the hill by the time the game was over, so the girls came back up and played a little basketball before we headed home. On the way out, we took pans of smoked pork, potato salad, and coleslaw for later. The drive home was quiet and felt a little tense, as Summer had been quiet all day. We made it home, I played Tetris to get everything into the refrigerator, and the usual suspects made it to bed. I got there eventually.

It’s always work if you’re a leader.

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Burger Time

We got up this morning, and Summer had trouble getting Autumn outside to start mowing. She mouthed off for a while before going out and getting started, but after that she settled down and got the back yard done without a fuss. I ended up taking a bunch of blankets and pillows away from her again, and I guess it worked, because she was on her best behavior the rest of the day.

Summer went to the gym while I babysat. Afterward, she and Eaddie dropped me off at home to clean up while Eaddie practiced driving. Then we went to Walmart for burger parts for dinner. The girls’ brother Zack wanted to take them out, but came over for dinner instead.

I made fresh-cut fries and all-beef burgers without any filler for a change. I don’t know that I prefer that over having some shredded wheat in them, but they tasted great. The grill caught on fire for a while, so we had to let it burn off a bunch of old oil before we could grill on it. The mango habanero pickles I got on clearance were a delicious addition with an unexpected sweetness and punch.

After we ate, the girls wanted to play Phase 10, but they had to painstakingly teach Zack the rules. He left after the fifth phase, and we played a little longer, but never finished the game. Autumn and Summer went to bed really early, and then Eaddie planned to sleep on the couch. I was pretty tired after grilling in the heat, so I didn’t waste any time getting to bed either.

Why are weekends so busy when it’s miserably hot outside?